Content marketing is the dissemination of information in different forms with a goal of providing education and awareness on products or services in a business… At least that’s the proper definition.
It can take many forms, from blog posts and white papers to podcasts and webinars.
The benefits of content marketing are many – one among them is creating a sense of intrigue and knowledge about products or services on an online platform. Not only does content marketing tap potential customers, it is also beneficial in attracting readers and identifying prospective customers.
Content marketing has also proven to be an effective way to handle rumors and myths since it allows the audience access to the correct information.
With all this in mind, content marketing should be the present and future for all leading brands so as to ensure increased sales, cost reductions and a loyal customer base.
Sometimes quantifying the benefits of content marketing is difficult, which is why we built Statly… To get a complete picture of what’s driving sales and where you should be spending your time on the marketing front. There’s even a free 3-part video series that’ll walk you through filling the gaps in your metrics…
However, if you haven’t achieved meaningful results, here are the reasons why your content may be falling short of its expected output and what you can do to resolve this.
1. Your content isn’t captivating enough
In order for content marketing to achieve its intended results of appealing to your intended customer base and creating awareness through helpful information, the content must be very unique.
Almost all businesses use content marketing; therefore, expect a lot of competition. Approaching the same idea at a different angle can be captivating and keep your readers glued and make them want to keep coming back for information.
Competition is a good incentive to produce content that is more beneficial to the target audience:
- Study your competitors’ content and identify gaps in areas where their content marketing isn’t captivating users enough.
- Build on it to maintain your audience engagement.
- Keep producing unique content to keep up with your competitors.
Content marketing is time-consuming, since a lot of research has to be done to determine market trends and analyze the strategies and the best one to adopt. Ensure that your content is done skillfully.
2. The main idea in your content is not clear
If you think that content marketing is only intended to attract more online customers and make a profitable business, then you need to think again.
Well…customers and profit may drive a lot of content marketing, but this school of thought alone cannot ensure successful results in your content marketing.
It would be beneficial to focus on the knowledge impact of the content to your online market; this is a more measurable tool.
Use your content as a way to connect with your customers and be as engaging as possible by responding to queries and complaints with facts and reliable content about your brand.
It is also helpful to have a clear strategy in your content marketing and always follow through. Content marketing with a well-documented strategy, not necessarily designed by the content marketer is wise for a business to achieve the expected results of content marketing.
- Start with thought-out valuables and performance indicators.
Don’t just seek to communicate your content – make sure you are engaging with your audience.
3. You only have one person writing the content every time
It is a fact that writing is not an easy pie for everyone and therefore finding a person who develops the content for your online market is tough. Effective content marketing requires the creation of unique strategies that are not only achieved by one person every time.
- Brainstorm ideas on the content with different people to ensure variety in your work.
Another person should also do editing of the content, so that you ensure that mistakes are not being ignored. A full-time proofreader would be the best choice to avoid any duplication of content.
The company CEO and other management personnel might have a myriad of information on the company but they will not always be the best people to develop the content every time. Rather than expecting such people to be the best content creators because of their knowledge use their ideas to develop even greater content.
4. You fail to promote your content regularly
Creating new and unique ideas by articles in your blog is a good part of content marketing, as this would increase your online audience. However, it would yield even more results if you promoted your article regularly.
Promoting the content is an integral part of ensuring you achieve results in content marketing.
- Use social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, to post and repost articles and take advantage of trending topics to streamline your content.
- Mention your work when commenting on other posts and articles and blogs.
There are influencers in the online domain who could also help you reach out to your target audience.
Content that is valuable to the audience will most likely be shared and most times people would refer to it when making shopping decisions. Responding to questions on the social sites with related topics to your content is a simple way of convincing your audience that you are well informed.
5. You expect to see results immediately
Patience is a virtue and no empire can be built in a day. Content marketing requires a lot of effort and is quite time-consuming.
And while content marketing has enabled many businesses to thrive and be successful, it is important to remember that all this did not happen in a day.
- Allow time for your content to find footing and bring results, this could be possible in weeks and even months…who knows? In the meantime, just stay positive and keep working at it!
The best way to track the effectiveness of your content marketing is by using the right tool to showcase how buyers are doing business with you… Statly has a patent-pending algorithm designed to do just that…
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To wrap this up…
Content marketing is a helpful tool for marketers and I hope this article helps you identify your areas of improvement and enables you to reap its benefits!
Do your research, create reliable and valuable content, strive to create better content every time and remember to always distribute it regularly.